Stock market today: Stocks rally after Tesla earnings and GDP
A volatile start for stocks on Thursday led to a strong finish as investors pondered the latest batch of quarterly earnings and economic reports.
Tesla (TSLA (Opens in a new tab)) titled Busy Earnings calendar — and Wall Street cheered the electric car maker’s fourth-quarter results. Meanwhile, the latest GDP (gross domestic product) The reading showed that the US economy grew faster than expected in the last three months of 2022, even as interest rates rose and inflation continued to rise.
Tesla released its fourth-quarter results late Wednesday, sending shares up 11% today. The company reported earnings of $1.19 per share on revenue of $24.3 billion — both records for TSLA. Consensus estimates were for earnings of $1.13 per share on $24.7 billion in sales. The automaker also said it plans to “increase production as quickly as possible” in order to meet its goal of hitting average annual growth of 50%.
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For today’s economic data, the Economic Analysis Office (Opens in a new tab) He said this morning that gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.9% in the fourth quarter, faster than what we saw in the third quarter. However, consumer spending slowed, rising 2.1% in the fourth quarter versus 2.3% in the third quarter.
The top minds on Wall Street were quickly chiming in on GDP, including Carol Schleife, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office. “Thursday’s GDP report indicates that the economy is relatively strong even in the face of the Federal Reserve’s draconian measures. inflation“Businesses and consumers are adjusting their spending after the initial exuberant post-pandemic surge and we expect this slowdown in momentum will allow the economy to move strongly but on a slower and more sustainable path,” says Shleif.
in conclusion , NASDAQ Composite It was up 1.8% at 11,512 Standard & Poor’s 500 It was 1.1% higher at 4060, and Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.6% to 33,949.
Chevron unveils $75 billion buyback program
chevron (CVX (Opens in a new tab)) was among the best Dow Jones stock Today – second only to Salesforce (CRM (Opens in a new tab), +5.7%) – up 4.8% after the energy giant unveiled a massive share buyback program. Specifically, CVX said its board of directors approved $75 billion in investment Stock repurchaseThe program is scheduled to go into effect on April 1. Oil tycoon – known to be one The best dividend stocks On Wall Street – It also raised its quarterly payment by 6% to $1.51 a share.
CVX’s announcement and subsequent move in the share price made the energy sector the best-performing sector today (+3.2%), but that’s more of the same. Year-to-date, the energy sector is up more than 6%, based on impressive gains in 2022.
And there are a lot of potential positive stimuli for oil stocks Over the next few months, that could keep the wind at their backs. These include the reopening of China, the Biden administration ending the release of strategic petroleum reserves, and the spring and summer demand surge, says Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates. Continued gains can certainly pay off The best energy stocksWhile Energy ETFs You will also reap the rewards.